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Good Haley and Ben article

LATROBE, Pa. — Todd Haley laughs about it, Ben Roethlisberger shrugs.

Neither believe anything will deter them from winning games for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The quarterback and new coach shrug off concerns about two strong personalities uniting, offseason chatter be dadgummed. Haley called the worries "comical."

"I've heard some of it just through feedback as much as anything," Haley said Wednesday at Steelers training camp. "Friends calling and saying, 'What's going on with you and Ben?' I'm like, 'What do you mean what's going on?'"

Roethlisberger said things got blown up when Haley was hired and added the two have had good "ebb and flow" early in training camp.

"We're going to work together," Roethlisberger said.

The two insist that they can and will play nice this season.

They best do so. It's no stretch that the success of 2012 Steelers may come down to their quarterback and how well he and Haley mesh. Receiver Mike Wallace is not in camp. Running back Rashard Mendenhall is recovering from knee surgery. Hines Ward is retired. Roethlisberger, now 30, steps forward as the unchallenged leader of the offense.

He does so adjusting to the personality of a new coordinator and style of play. The Steelers replaced Bruce Arians after losing to Denver in the playoffs even though Roethlisberger and Arians were very close and very successful together. Consensus is that the move was made by Art Rooney II, who grew weary of the pass-oriented offense Arians ran — and weary of the lack of time spent practicing the running game.

Roethlisberger loved Arians because he's an aggressive guy whose personality fits nearly perfectly with Roethlisberger's. Arians also gave Roethlisberger a lot of freedom in calling and changing plays.

Haley comes from the Bill Parcells school that believes in the importance of running the ball and not taking too many chances. He comes home to the city where he grew up (after he was fired as coach of the Chiefs). His father Dick played for the Steelers, then worked in the front office. Todd Haley has never been called warm and fuzzy, so when Haley and Roethlisberger didn't communicate shortly after Haley was hired, the outside perception was that the two could not and would not get along.

Roethlisberger scoffed, saying league rules kept them from communicating.

Haley at times seems to be a walking contradiction. He's looked on as a buttoned-down, conservative coordinator, but when he ran the Arizona offense in 2008 that lost to Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl, Kurt Warner threw for 4,583 yards and Larry Fitzgerald caught passes for 1,431 yards. Arizona also had two other 1,000-yard receivers.

Buttoned-down?

He also has this image of being an irascible personality.

But Steelers receiver Antonio Brown said Haley has not turned out to be anything like he was made out to be.

"Definitely a big difference (with Haley and Arians)," Brown said. "Todd is really a cool guy, man. Shaking guys' hands, putting in extra time with guys, visiting with guys. Bruce wasn't really that type of guy. He didn't really shake guys' hands or communicate with them too often. He just went about his business.

"A guy like Todd is more team oriented and more fluent, communicative with the players, more trying to make it work, and work together with all the men. So he's trying to get to know everyone. That's something special to be a part of.

"He's a great guy."

Haley admits he can blow up on the sidelines, but said sometimes it's contrived to get a reaction from a player.

"I take a great deal of pride in my passion for the game," he said, "but it's also what the situation dictated at the time."

Haley stresses that the best offenses run successfully when they have to and throw successfully when they have to. He points out that most teams he's joined were struggling, but the Steelers have not been struggling so his need to put his stamp on the offense is not as strong.

"You have to adjust to the team and the situation you have," he said.

There also will be adjustments as the personalities become accustomed to one another — and probably even disagreements. Roethlisberger will hold the ball in the face of a locomotive bearing down on him to make a big play. Early in camp, Haley stressed the check down. Those things must be worked out, as with any new partnership. But Haley understands that, in Roethlisberger, he has a quarterback with a rare talent for fighting off the pass rush to make a play. His forte — shedding tacklers and making throws downfield — can put him at risk, but is part of his game.

"Ben's the type of player you want to be around," Haley said. "When you make a bad call or things break down, he can make it right."

"But at the same time I think Ben is capable of playing the game in a number of different ways. I think there's going to be times where we're directing the ball coming out in a certain fashion, other times he's going to be Ben and use one of his greatest strengths, which is a great field vision and finding guys that are open when he's under duress."

Haley sees building the relationship as part of coaching. He says he'll give Roethlisberger leeway to make and change calls "with preparation." And he pointed out that he remains good friends with former players like Warner, Fitzgerald and Keyshawn Johnson.

"But at the same time," Haley said, "I coached them and they responded as players the way they needed to respond."

While there has been much concern over how new offensive coordinator Todd Haley's schemes would be handled by the Steelers and whether or not Haley and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger would get along, wide receiver Antonio Brown is effusive in his praise for Haley's style.

"It's definitely a big difference," Brown said Wednesday.

"Todd's really a cool guy -- shaking guy's hands, communicating with guys, putting in that extra time for guys, visiting with guys. Bruce [Arians] wasn't really that type of guy -- he just went about his business.

"Todd is more team-oriented and more communicative with players and trying to work together with all the men, so he's getting to know everyone," Brown said

"That's something special to be a part of."

That flies in the face of the image of Haley's supposedly thorny personality and his clashes with star players and management while he was head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs.

"Not at all," Brown said. "He's a great guy. Definitely not what people made him out to be."

"You can't go off of what you hear about a person until you really get to meet him, and, since I met this guy, he's been first class. ... [Haley] asks me what I'm seeing on the field and [makes suggestions] -- 'look at this route, you can do this better.' When you have men like that who are willing to ... be on the same page as players it makes it better for you, and you're more willing to want to play hard for them."

"That's what we're establishing in camp. Establish our identity, get on the same page, know the way he thinks, build that relationship."
Guard-ed words

Steelers offensive guard and No. 1 draft pick David DeCastro is developing a reputation as an intense man-of-few words.

"He looks like a military dude, man. He's too serious some of the time, but he's a great guy to have around the field," center Maurkice Pouncey said.

"Most of the time, he doesn't say anything at all. They call him Mr. Personality," Pouncey laughed.

So how to loosen him up?

"Just try to joke with him ... he went to that smart school [Stanford] -- it was probably school, school, school and football.

"He probably didn't learn how to have a good time in college -- he didn't take bowling."
Mendenhall feeling good

Running back Rashard Mendenhall, on the physically-unable-to-perform list while recovering from a torn right anterior cruciate ligament in the final regular-season game Jan. 1 in Cleveland, said his rehabilitation is progressing.

"I've done some cutting. It's gone really well -- I feel right on schedule," Mendenhall said before adding he could not elaborate on a possible return date.

"No. Not at all. But everything is going well right now, so I feel good about that."

He also couldn't speculate exactly how far along he is, but is pleased with his progress.

"It's hard to say as far as a percentage ... but everything we've done has gone well and been successful, so we're just taking steps as we go along."
Injury report

Running backs John Clay and Chris Rainey did not complete the afternoon practice due to groin injury for Clay and a heat-related illness for Rainey, coach Mike Tomlin said.

Outside linebacker LaMarr Woodley was given a day off as a precautionary measure because of his history of minor camp injuries, Tomlin said.

LATROBE – From the moment the Steelers hit the field for their first camp practice, there have been misconceptions about Todd Haley’s new offense.

There have been reports that he’s putting an extra emphasis on running the ball.

There are reports that he’s ordered his offense as a whole to be more physical than the offenses the Steelers had when Bruce Arians called plays.

Those reports, however, are not accurate.

Haley, the Steelers’ new offensive coordinator, was never told by anyone in the organization to run more.

Never was he told to incorporate more of a “smash-mouth” philosophy into his playbook.

Starting this year when the offense is on the field trying to advance the ball and score points, it’s Haley’s job to use the talent he has to work with accordingly. It doesn’t matter how many times Isaac Redman runs the ball or how many times Ben Roethlisberger heaves it.

Stats be damned as long as the Steelers win.

“We want to be a team that can run it when we want to run it and throw it when we have to throw it,” Haley said. “If you can run it when they know you’re going to run it, and you can throw it when they know you’re going to throw, you have a chance to be real good.”

During his time as offensive coordinator in Arizona and then head coach in Kansas City where he also ran the offense, Haley proved to be flexible.

With the Cardinals, Haley loved the passing game. After all, he had star quarterback Kurt Warner throwing to a stable of dynamic receivers in Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin and Steve Breaston. In 2008, the Cardinals ranked second in the league in passing and dead last in rushing, yet they almost beat the Steelers in the Super Bowl.

In 2010 when Haley led Kansas City to the AFC West Division title, the Chiefs led the league in rushing but only ranked 30th in passing.

So he's done it both ways.

He knows you do whatever it takes to win.

As far as the Steelers looking more physical offensively so far, they are. That’s because of their personnel.

Isaac Redman, a real bruiser, is now the starting running back, and not Rashard Mendenhall.

Up front, Willie Colon is back. Before sitting out the past two years with injuries, he was a nasty brawler of a right tackle. Now he’s at left guard on an offensive line that includes center Maurkice Pouncey, guard David DeCastro and tackle Marcus Gilbert. No one has to tell them to play physical. That’s their nature.

Beside opening up holes for Redman and whoever else carries the ball, the O-line has another important mission, and that’s to protect the franchise quarterback. Remember,

Roethlisberger is the face of the franchise and he’s going to get his chance to throw the ball often especially when Mike Wallace ends his foolish holdout.

“As a staff, we feel good about the direction we’re going in,” Haley said. “There’s a lot of work to do. We’re still reinstalling a bunch of the things. But we feel good about where we are.”

There’s no doubt that an offensive coordinator has an important job. But keep in mind, the Steelers have played in eight AFC championship games and three Super Bowls in the last 18 seasons. In those big games, no less than five different offensive coordinators called the shots (Ron Erhardt, Chan Gailey, Mike Mularkey, Ken Whisenhunt and Arians).

Success offensively isn’t so much about the man drawing up the plays. It’s about the men who execute them.

WHAT HALEY HAD TO SAY

On the offense changing in any way if holdout wide receiver Mike Wallace does not report:

“A lot of this process for me has been trying to figure out what each guy’s strengths and weaknesses are. That’s coaching, playing to their strengths and trying to stay away from weaknesses. To this point, we’ve coached and worked with the guys who are here. Wallace is a great player, and I’m counting on him being here. But right now, I just have to really stay focused on who’s here and developing and getting everybody ready to go.”

On the replacements for running back Rashard Mendenhall:

“I’m excited about that group. We have a wide range of body types and skill sets. That’s good. We have some big, strong guys like Isaac Redman who can run it up in there when needed but who also has outside ability. Then you have some of the little sports-car type bodies (like Baron Batch and Chris Rainey) that offer different weapons for us. It’s a good mix. It’s a good group of guys.”

On having a veteran, successful quarterback when going through the process of putting in a new offense:

“I’ve heard people say that it’s a quarterback league. Having now spent 17 years coaching, I believe that. You need a guy that can be the field general and move the football team up and down the field, control the huddle and handle the defense. Ben (Roethlisberger) is in that group of top guys. He’s proven it from day one in the NFL. I’m having a lot of fun across the board with all position groups, but him handling that football every snap makes it fun for us offensive coaches.”

On the interior offensive linemen having mean reputations:

“We’re excited about seeing this entire line. This is a young group, but they all have a lot of competitive fire starting in the middle with Maurkice Pouncey. Willie Colon is mean and nasty. He’s just what you’d think a player coming from the Bronx, Hofstra University, and Long Island would be like. “

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People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. George Orwell

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The Pittsburgh Steelers claim they will be using plenty of no-huddle under first-year offensive coordinator Todd Haley. Because what with an NFL offseason be like without over half the league saying it is going to throw deep, play up-tempo, spread the field, and/or go no-huddle.

“He’s shown the propensity to do that at a high level,” said Haley. “This is new to him, so we’re still working together on it. Ideally, if you have a quarterback like Roethlisberger and what he’s done, when he’s in full control, that’s a good situation to be in because he’s right in the middle of it, seeing what’s going on. There’s always communication at least in my experiences because we can communicate until the (play) clock gets to 15 (seconds).

“I could tell through the spring that Ben’s got his arms around it and he likes it. You can see his eyes light up a little bit when we get in that mode. That’s the sign of a great quarterback. The ones that I’ve been around, they want it, give me control and let me run this thing. He has the ability to do it, as he’s shown in the past and through the spring. I’m just excited to see us continue working as a group and get this thing ready to go for the season.”

That about sums up BA's tenure in Pittsburgh. I know Haley isn't popular with the fan base in general, but I almost like his comments/sound bites as much as I like Tomlin's.

Say what you want about Tomlin, but he is absolutely not threatened by assistants who want to do things differently...

He retained Dick LeBeau and the 3-4 Zone Blitz despite being far more familiar with the 4-3 Tampa 2...

He is letting Haley do what he thinks is right despite the naysayers droning on and on in the media how Roethlisberger and Haley will never be able to work toegther...

Both LeBeau and Haley are former head coaches, yet Tomlin signed an extension with the Steelers despite all of the speculation that he was not able to choose his own staff...

Tomlin does not seem to fall prey to the ego and insecurity that kills the careers of so many NFL head coaches...like Haley, for example...I hope that the Steelers can be as good for Haley as Haley can be for the team...

So the smallest guy on the field had a heat related illness, while the guys winking at 400 did just fine? I suppose that is that soft Florida program working against Rainey.

I thought about that too. This guy went to FLORIDA, not Michigan or Wisconsin or something. How can he not handle the heat? Heck, Keisel shows up with a viking beard after coming up in the devils icebox and doesn't have these problems. SMH...